The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-08-08

When we landed ana proceeded on IoOU,
button, as was usual, went III front, his
friend near him, then camc up the old
darby, and brought up the rear. We had
gone no more than two miles before the
swamp became rough and dense, and, as it
was getting late in the evening, we called
halt and decided to return to our boat before
the night caught us i'll the swamp. We
were all ready to go except Dutton, who had
gone some distance ahead and was not IN
sight. / told the old negro to go and tell
him TO return, and he had Just started in
obedience to my command whom the blood
in my veins was chilled by an awful shrek
for help If / live for 100 years | shall
never forget that cry. IL seemed to
come from the direction to the right of us,
direction none of us had taken, and which
button could only have followed by turn
ing directly away from the line we had
mapped out on starting As the last note
of that afwul cry died away | looked at the
old darkey who had started to do my bid
ding, but he seemed paraly2ed and became
so weak he could hardly stand. The only
words | could hear from his half-open lips
as ran past him in the direction from
whence the sound came were: Its no use
TO go after him, master; its no use Dut-
tons friends followed me quickly, and
we had not gone more than
a hundred yards when sight
met my eyes the like of which | would
rather undergo death than again to encoun-
ter. In an open space in front of me was
what appeared to be marshy stretch of
perhaps ten yards square. 1t looked like its
bottom was right on the surface of the
earth, and | would have attempted to wade
across it without any hesitation except Nr
the sight that met my frightened gaze In
the midst of this sink was Button, Strug-
CLING as if with some invisible power that
was drawing him downward. IT was draw
ing my friend beneath the surface of this
hole of slime and filth.
around his body, coiled in sckening
masses, were reptiles of every description, i'll
which Okefinokee swamp abounds, and his
cries for help were piteous. " hen we first
saw him he was at the edge of the hole, but
by the time we had reached there the rep
tiles had pulled him, struggling as he was,
into the centre, and to reach him without
the assistance of a pole was impossible.
The space for 100 yards was as clear as clear
could be- 1t was growing dark, and every
moment Dutton was being drawn closer
into the bottomless pit | hallooed to
him and implored him to make n
desperate effort to come nearer to the edge,
so that | could reach him. He had sunk up
to his shoulders by this time, and when | re
ceived no answer to my entreaties | looked
to discover the reason. A large snake had
cooled itself around his shoulders and neck,
and drew tighter and tighter, until Dutton
was black in the face and unable to speak.
In another instant he went down, taking the
mass of squirming reptiles with him, leav-
ing nothing but a bubble on the surface
to denote the terrible struggle that
friend, who had not said a word up to this
time, and motioned him to lead the way to
our boat. | was SO sick from the sight
had seen | was hardly able to stand. We
managed to get back to where the old darky
was. He had not moved step and still
had that scared look in bis face. Did they
choke him ter deathP he asked. And upon
receiving a reply in the affirmative he pi-
loted us to the boat without another word.
buttons friend left for England few days
after and | have never seen him since.
The next day | asked the old darby why he
acted SO strange and seemed to know that
the reptiles had cholzed my unfortunate
friend, when he was not there. He said:
Nassau, it is twenty years this spring
since l said | would never go into the
swamp again. just twenty years ago | was
hunting alGgators with my only boy, a
smart lad of II years, and ] heard that
same cry and rushed to where he was ter
find myself unable ter do anything for him.
| stood there and saw the snakes strangle
him to death and draw him down into that
awful hole. When | heard that cry yester-
day / knew what it was, although
had not heard it before for twenty
years, and it struck terror into my
soul. 1t would have been no use TO have
handed him a stick, for I tried that when
my boy was dragged down, and although l
handed it to him he could not take it. The
monsters had pinioned his hands and his
legs, and nothing could be done but TO stand
by and listen to his cries, as they choked
him to death and dragged him from my
sight.
"Since that time" said Mr., Crompton,
Though | have lived within two hours ride
of the swamp, have never gone near it.
The very thought sickens me and causes q
shudder to pass over me.